


hidden inheritance

by UpAmongTheStars



Category: BoBoiBoy (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, but only in the sense that their dads were friends, tok aba is literally the best grandpa and this is the hill i die on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26541256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpAmongTheStars/pseuds/UpAmongTheStars
Summary: "It's... a picture." Fang raises a brow and leans closer to peer at the image. "What's so special about–"The words cut off, and in the exact same moment, Boboiboy realizes what Fang seeing.The photo is old. It's colored but worn around the edges, obviously well-loved despite the few creases here and there. None of the people are looking at the camera and yet Boboiboy can feel the gentle, brilliant warmth of it, of this single precious snapshot in time as if he were there himself and not just a simple witness.His smile hasn't changed,Boboiboy thinks dazedly as he stares at a younger Amato, grinning bright and sheepish andfree.
Relationships: (Maskmana was also their friend but that's a secret), Amato & The Governor & Mr. Kumar (implied), Boboiboy & Fang & Gopal, Tok Aba & Amato, Tok Aba & The Kids
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	hidden inheritance

**Author's Note:**

> i have no explanation for this other than the fact that i may have fallen in love with the governor and ended up with the headcanon that he and amato were friends. and then the other parents just snuck in, and well...
> 
> also if yall didnt know, i have a soft spot for tok aba the size of the moon. i love him so much. hes literally the best grandpa and i would trust him with my life.

"Is he okay?"

"Mmh?" Boboiboy pauses in his attempt to tie his bangs up to see Fang frowning at a frozen Gopal.

The three of them were helping Tok Aba with a giveaway of sorts, a kind of treat for his loyal customers when his grandad somehow figured that this was as good a time as any to also hand off some of his old but still useful possessions. What was once a hunt for some baking tools suddenly devolved into a full-out excavation, and now here they were, with a bunch of kits and books and several astro-navigational references, and _still_ they hadn't found the cupcake trays.

_Maybe they should have just borrowed Yaya's..._

A tug at his hair brings him back to the present. Boboiboy swats at the offending limb, which earns him a look from Fang, who pointedly slides it back to Gopal. Huffing, Boboiboy ties off his ponytail and considers.

It takes all of three seconds before he shrugs. It's been five minutes since Gopal stopped muttering complaints and if his best friend has taught him anything, is that silence from him often means scheming.

"Hey Gopal," he says, blinking at flinch he gets. _Not scheming, then._ "You okay?"

Slowly, the other turns, and for a while he just... squints at them, as if looking for something. Boboiboy and Fang share worried glance, but just as Fang moves to prepare for whatever this is, Gopal's eyes widen and he cries, "No way!"

"What are you–"

Boboiboy yelps as Gopal scrambles forward and yanks him along. Behind them, Fang swears quietly, dropping his armful of blueprints as he follows after them. The older teen spots the coffee table and promptly slaps something on top of it, finally letting go as he points to the object with an incredulous, "Look."

"It's... a picture." Fang raises a brow and leans closer to peer at the image. "What's so special about–"

The words cut off, and in the exact same moment, Boboiboy realizes what Fang seeing.

The photo is old. It's colored but worn around the edges, obviously well-loved despite the few creases here and there. None of the people are looking at the camera and yet Boboiboy can feel the gentle, brilliant warmth of it, of this single precious snapshot in time as if he were there himself and not just a simple witness.

 _His smile hasn't changed_ , Boboiboy thinks dazedly as he stares at a younger Amato, grinning bright and sheepish and _free_. Something in his chest squeezes at the sight of it, at the simple joy on his dad's face as he allows himself to have fun with his friends, one of which shares similar features with Gopal, and the other–

"He was here."

Something in Fang's tone makes Boboiboy jerk, something raw and aching that pulls him out of his head and brings the world back into focus.

There's - a man, in the photo, with red eyes and purple hair. His features are sharp but the air around him isn't, and the ghost of a smile lingers in his expression even as he turns, clearly exasperated - _soft, his eyes have gone soft with so much affection and Boboiboy knows, without a single shred of doubt, that this man loved his friends like he loved family_ \- at the two other teens.

"He–" Fang stops, tries to swallow back his yearning. Boboiboy shifts so that their shoulders brush and watches, relieved and grateful and overwhelming fond, as Gopal does the same on the other side. He tries not to fidget, eyes dark with worry and the slightest bit of guilt. "He was _here_. My father, he was– he knew–"

 _He knew our parents_. Boboiboy eyes the man who looks like Captain Kaizo but feels so much like Fang and thinks, _And they definitely knew him._

(The thing is, Boboiboy has never heard Fang talk about his family.

None of them have, really, and for a while all of them thought that Fang simply didn't want to. It wasn't so weird considering who his brother was, but after a couple times seeing the teen look small whenever someone mentioned their parents, certain conclusions just... fell into place.

There was still a chance that they were wrong, of course, but if they were...

The Captain wouldn't have left Fang alone on Earth.)

"Right," he mutters, and then again, with much more determination, "Right! Okay, this is– amazing?"

"More like _insane_." Gopal huffs a quiet laugh, eyeing the picture with a curious wistfulness. "They look really happy here."

The noise Fang makes is almost pained, and Boboiboy winces as the teen yanks his glasses off to press at his eyes. He shoots a conflicted look at Gopal, tries to find courage in a few, deep breaths, then he nods to himself and picks up the photo.

Tok Aba would know about this.

 _Hopefully_ , he thinks, ushering his friends out of the house, _he'd know enough for Fang, too._

* * *

There's a certain peacefulness that comes with working that one can't get while simply standing still.

Tok Aba ponders on this while preparing another drink, the familiar motions pressed deep into his bones, deep enough that he can entertain the idea of doing it blindfolded and actually succeeding. It's an amusing thought, making his good mood lighter still as he hands the finished order to a hovering OchoBot who takes to the task with an endearing fussiness.

"Atok," the powersphere whines, and it takes everything in the former mechanic not to huff at the tone. "You were _supposed_ to take a break."

"Come now, OchoBot. I'm old, not an invalid." He pats his assistant, grabbing another mug just to make a point. "It would take more that this to wear me out."

"But Atok..."

"I'll take a break after the orders finish. That should only take-" he checks the list, "About ten minutes. Deal?"

"Deal!"

OchoBot hesitates for the briefest of moments before rushing a careful hug, and then he's off, zooming between tables and being a model employee.

Tok Aba shakes his head, not bothering to hide his smile. Having OchoBot around is like having another grandchild and a part of him still wonders at that. It's the same part of him that - even now - surprises itself with how every stranger that passes by his shop seems to worm their way under his wing, soothing the passing threads of loneliness that occasionally manage to cling to his being.

It's not something that bothers him much, really. From his early years, Tok Aba had already been surrounded by people whose dreams were too big for their bodies; those whose eyes were on the sky and refusing to believe it was the limit. It had been the case with his mother, and then his wife, and eventually even Amato.

And now, such was the case with Boboiboy, too.

Tok Aba is proud of them. Nothing brings him more joy than to see his family chasing after what they love, and while there are days where he misses them terribly, he's always trusted that they would always come back to him one day. The stars will call to those who listen but every heart needs a home, and if there's one thing Tok Aba prides himself in, it's in being the one that his family can come back to, the one who always has room for too-big dreams and wandering hearts.

(His mother once said adventure was in his blood, and she was right.

But adventures for him were found in the little things– among parts and wires, between one project and the next, and in the comfort of his room and his shed and his growing love for cocoa.

If he could find happiness so close at hand, who was to say it was less of a victory?)

"Atok!"

The shout pulls him out of his thoughts, and Tok Aba frowns as he spots the three teens making their way towards him.

Alarm blooms in his chest when he sees how pale Fang has gotten but the glint in Boboiboy's eyes calms him down a bit, enough to find humor at the sight of his grandson - who's tied-up hair makes him look like a newly grown sapling - stubbornly manhandling both of his friends, one hand around Fang's wrist and the other half-tugging at the edge of Gopal's shirt.

"Boboiboy." He watches them sit, trying his best to be reassuring when he sees how anxious they are up close. "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Ah, no. I mean yes! But not... really?" his grandson scratches his cheek, oddly hesitant. Tok Aba frowns a little at that, placing the last of the ordered drinks to the side as he moves to make a few for the kids. Something tells him that they're all going to need it.

"Is it the blueprints?" he prompts, thinking back to the many cases sitting idle in their storage. OchoBot floats back and he signals for his break, the powersphere perking up with a dutiful salute, before making himself as useful and unobtrusive as possible. "I know there's a lot of them, you can just move them out and leave the sorting to me."

"No no, the cleaning is fine, it's just– there was this–"

Tok Aba is patient as Boboiboy tells him about their task, from the still-missing cupcake pan to the many breaks Gopal had called for in between the old toy train incident ("You hit me!" "I thought you were dying!" "Why would you hit someone who was dying?!") and the careful transfer of his small library on fluid mechanics and mechanical design.

By the time Boboiboy gets to the actual issue, Tok Aba already has an idea of what it is, if Fang's hunched shoulders and Gopal's sudden focus on his drink is anything to go by.

"...and then we– I mean, Gopal found this."

Boboiboy hands over the photo with a reverence Tok Aba easily understands, and for a moment, he allows himself to simply look and relive the memory preserved in that single piece of paper.

He remembers this photo. Maybe not where he left it last - else it would have been in his room, or perhaps the living room wall - but almost everything else, from the day it was taken to how MechaBot was the one to take it.

He turns back to the kids, all of them looking at him with the kind of wonder that comes with discovering something by the hands of fate, and smiles.

"This picture was taken twenty-eight years ago," he starts, taking a seat in front of them a laying the photo down for everyone to see. "Amato - your dad, he always went and did things like it was a personal challenge."

It was a both a blessing and a curse. Amato loved learning things and was always testing his limits with his discoveries, if not outright bulldozing over the edge in a flash of ingenuity or fatuity. He learned, though, one way or another, and for Tok Aba that was all that mattered.

"Nilam was making ice cream that day," he continues. Beside Boboiboy, Gopal startles at the unexpected use of his father's first name. "He invited both Amato and Zhang Wei-" and now it was Fang's turn to startle, hands clutching at his cup like a lifeline, "-so they both joined, and like things usually happen when my son gets excited, it ended in a disaster."

Well, that wasn't quite true. Zhang Wei had evaded much of the mess, warrior-raised as he was, but both Amato and Mister Kumar were covered in chocolate flavored cream, the latter shaking the former with a grip on his collar. Zhang Wei had eyed them long-sufferingly, ever the designated adult as he helped clean up a disgruntled MechaBot.

 _("I told you it was a bad idea!" Nilam cries, shaking his friend as if that would reverse the last few minutes. "I_ told _you!"_

_Amato sputters in his grip, trying - and failing - to escape the other's clutches._

_"I said I was sorry!"_

_"Sorry doesn't get my ice cream back!"_

_"Both of you," Zhang Wei sighs, already in the middle of placating_ _a grumbling MechBot, "_ Please _calm down.)_

Amato really should have known better than to mechanize the whisk but even Maskmana saw how much all of them had fun, and the hero only glanced the photo _once_. He has no doubts the kids can see it too; their fathers had been friends in the best of ways, and a small part of Tok Aba mourns that they only found out about it because of this picture.

(The same part of him, though Tok Aba won't admit, that still mourns said friendship, ever fraying with the weight of dreams and duties and tragedies.)

Always the bravest, Boboiboy speaks up first.

"Why hasn't Dad ever talked about them?"

It's not an accusation, and yet Tok Aba can hear the hurt in those words anyway. He sighs; Amato has more reasons than most to keep things secret and while he understands that, understands that some stories aren't his to tell, a part of him also knows that his grandson deserves nothing but the truth.

Reaching out, he gives Boboiboy's hair a fond ruffle and quietly says, "Your dad has gone through a lot of things, Boboiboy. And some of them... some of them are painful, or remind him of something sad. He doesn't like to talk about those things but it's not because he doesn't remember, or that he doesn't trust you."

"Yeah!" Gopal pipes up when Boboiboy does nothing but frown at the distance. He doesn't even move to fix his hair, so Gopal knocks their shoulders together, adding, "My Dad never mentioned anything about this either, but I know he trusts me. Like last week, he gave me his wallet when he knew I wanted to buy this new game but wasn't allowed to, and- well, I figured it was a test and it was kinda annoying, but I got him to promise to get it for my birthday so it wasn't so bad."

 _Best friend indeed,_ Tok Aba thinks, watching as a small smile makes its way onto Boboiboy's face. Exasperating as they are, he's glad for Gopal's antics; they're surprisingly effective againsts his grandson's insecurities. The two of them engaged, he shifts his attention to the last member of their trio, who has been awfully quiet all this time.

Fang stares at the bottom of his empty mug, looking smaller than Tok Aba has ever seen him. There's a blankness to his gaze that means nothing good, a brittleness in the way he holds himself - as if he's one wrong word or push from simply falling apart. The familiarity of it tears at a wound long buried, healed but never forgotten.

"Fang?" he calls, because as much as he would like to hug the teen, he isn't sure if it's welcome right now. "Are you okay?"

The teen blinks, then tips his head down further, hiding his expression as he takes a few, shuddering breaths. When he looks up, there's a fragile hope in his eyes - _longing, too, so much and so fierce, it's almost painful_ \- but his voice is steady like the tide as he says, "Yeah, Tok Aba, I'm - fine. Mostly." Then, almost as if he's afraid to ask, he whispers, "You... knew my father?"

"I did," he nods, smiling at the memory of a man who did not yield despite the weight of the world on his shoulders, and the woman he fell in love with, just as brilliant in her convictions to do what was right. "I knew your mother, too."

And this is perhaps the hardest conversation Tok Aba will be a part of, because he looks at this teen - nearly a man and yet so, so young - and he sees all that the world has to offer, all the pain and suffering and still so much _hope_ , so much potential to be kind and just and _good_ despite all one has lost, or perhaps because of it.

(In another life, Fang would have been his grandson. Kaizo, too, and even now Tok Aba hopes to meet him, to see the man with his father's face and his mother's burning will.

He knows they aren't his to claim. Maybe they were, once - because after a decade and half, Zhang Wei had been as much of a son to him as Amato was - but things are different now and still, _still_ Tok Aba wants to open his heart to them, to these people who echoed the best of their parents with their very own _guanjung shen._ )

Boboiboy and Gopal are looking at them now, surprised and more than a little curious as Fang quietly asks, "Could you tell me about them?"

Tok Aba smiles at him and says, "Of course."

He spends the rest of the afternoon telling stories about a governor with kind eyes and a kinder heart, about a battlemaster who trained as hard as she loved, about how the two of them found balance in each other because both of them refused to mold the other into less than what they deserved to be.

And then he talks about their kids, about the first who was a force of nature, all fight and fire given physical form, and the second–

The second, who had his mother's smile but every bit of his father's heart.

Fang listens with all the wonder of a child hearing about his heroes and realizing that they're real. Tok Aba understands; he's met a lot of people but few have ever matched the likes of Zhang Wei or Ren, whose presences _blazed_ with the strength of their beliefs, as if barely held back by the fact that they were human. He knows they had their gifts and their skills but it was their unwavering faith that awed him, their simple, steadfast belief in a universe of people that could - and _would -_ choose to do good despite all the reasons not to.

(It wasn't to say they were perfect, though. Ren had a temper and could be reckless at the worst of times, and Zhang Wei had a habit of keeping people at arm's length, all too willing to sacrifice even what wasn't his to give for the sake of others. But they were good people, and Tok Aba knows they had been wonderful parents until the very end.)

Eventually, the topic circles back to the photo that started it, and all too soon the kids are laughing at the amount of trouble each of their parents used to cause.

"Wait, did - did Sir Amato really punch a robot?" Fang asks, voice high and incredulous and the slightest bit distressed. "With his _bare hands_?"

"He did," Tok Aba huffs, highly amused by the confused horror on Fang's expression, though he _had_ been upset back then as well. "The only reason I didn't hide MechaBot was because he didn't break his hand. I was very glad Zhang Wei and Nilam managed to hold him back."

"Your Dad was a _troublemaker_ ," Gopal cackles with vindictive glee, like this was a sort of personal victory for him. Tok Aba figures that it probably was. "I get it now, Boboiboy!"

"Huh?" his grandson frowns, finally recovering from his shock. "What do you mean?"

"You're just like him!"

"Wha- no, I'm not!"

"Oh, you definitely are," Fang smirks, snickering as Boboiboy shoots him a halfhearted glare. "Remember A.B.A.M.?"

"That was _one_ time," Boboiboy argues, but Tok Aba knows him enough to see how much he's trying not to laugh. "Besides, the one with EmotiBot was worse! And he got both of you!"

"Aww, don't worry, Boboiboy," Gopal slings an arm around his shoulders, grin bright and teasing. "Me and Fang will keep you out of trouble."

"It's like a legacy at this point," the purple-haired teen adds and the smile he wears is almost shy. "Us saving you from the villain of the week."

"Now that," Tok Aba chuckles, "Sounds about right."

Boboiboy huffs at them, soundly defeated but so very fond, and Tok Aba gives in and tugs at his tied-up hair because it still looks like a tiny plant and it's _endearing_. He gets one of Boboiboy's sunny smiles in return, the one he makes when he's truly happy and the sight of it makes warmth bloom in his chest.

 _He really is his mother's son_ , Tok Aba thinks, remembering her old nickname for his grandson. Fitting, really, that his family had love for the stars when one of them shined bright like one.

And as the day goes on, the kids still needling at him for more stories - "I suppose I could tell you about the time they had to save Maskmana." "Wait, they knew Maskmana too?!" - Tok Aba spares a moment to thank whatever force in the universe brought them together because deep in his heart, he knows their fates will be kinder.

Legacies or not, these three will look after each other.

And really, that's all he'd ever ask for.

**Author's Note:**

> zhang wei and nilam are headcanon names i got for fang's and gopal's dads respectively! oh, and ren is kaizo and fang's mom. they arent canon, so pls dont sneak them into the wiki, i will be yeeted into space otherwise QwQ
> 
>  _guanjung shen_ \- a champion's spirit; something i made up for gogobugi culture, and its basically the will to live life and live it well


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